Best Friends
by AmethystHannah
Summary: What would happen if Suze didn't love Jesse, and Jesse didn't love Suze? What if they were only best friends? And what if Paul had handled the situation up in the Shadowland differently? Read to find out....... A PS fanfic
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters here, they are owned by the super-duper Meg Cabot!

Prologue starts with excerpt from Darkest Hour and the rest is by me. Rest of story is set in Haunted.

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_Excerpt_

_"And then, suddenly, there was something. A figure, striding toward us. I was filled with relief. The gate keeper, at last. He would help me. I knew he would....._

_Except that, as he came closer, I saw it wasn't the gatekeeper at all. This gur didn't have anything on his head except hair. Curly brown hair. Just like-_

_"Paul?" I burst out incredulously._

_I couldn't believe it. Paul. Paul Slater. Paul Slater was coming toward us. But how-"_

_End of excerpt._

"Suze!" he cried, suddenly breaking into a run. When he reached me he stopped, and noticed Jesse beside me. "Is this that ghost dude Jack exorcised?" he directed to me. However, Jesse answered.

"Yes I am, and who, may I ask, are you?" he asked, rather coldly. I noticed the tension, and stepped in, feeling that otherwise theere would probably be a fist fight.

"Woah, Jesse! It's ok, this is Paul Slater, Jacks brother. He's a friend." With that said, I turned to Paul. "This is Jesse, he's my best friend." Paul opened his mouth to speak, but I held my hand up. "No, let me speak. How the hell did you get up here, and how do _we _get out?" I yelled. Paul looked at me strangely.

"Wait, don't you know?" he questioned.

"Of course not! Why do you think I asked? And hurry up and explain, because I've only got five minutes until Jesse and I won't be leaving this place!" I was getting worked up by this time. Why was he acting so stupid?

Paul started to speak again. "You exorcised yourself didn't you? Well in that case we'll have to find the hole. Infact, I think I can see it, there." He pointed to a spot about a meter to my right. I grabbed Jesse's hand and ran towards it, pulling him with me. As we reached it, I turned to Paul. "Coming?" I asked him.

"Oh no. I'll get home my way," he said, half-laughing. At me? I wondered. "But-" I started, but he cut me off.

"Don't worry, I'll exlain one day. Now go, before that pretty dress of yours is lying on a corpse down there." I blushed, at thw ord pretty in reference to me.

"I-" I started to speak again, but before I had a chance to finish, Jesse pushed me down the hole. I fell back into my body with a bump, and started to sit up. And that, I'm sorry to say, is when all hell broke loose.


	2. Chapter 1

**SweetestReject** -- My first EVER reviewer!!!! Yey! Thankyou!!

**Pens in Potatoes** -- Did you really think it was THAT good?

**DancinSweethart** -- Yes they probably will get together. Although Suze will resist first..................

**Deadly-terrors** -- Ok............Interesting? My story? My stories are NEVER interesting, or so I think........

Ok, thanks to all of you who have reviewed this! Well, there was only these four, but still! This is my fist fanfic, what can i expect??? Roll on with the story, I hear you say. Ok, I will! Keep your panties on!! Read on.......................................

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"Well, well, well," said a familiar, masculine voice from behind me. "If it isn't Susannah Simon." I span round, immediatly regreting it when I stumbled and fell onto the person now infront of me. A person I desperately wanted to ask some questions. As I leant on his extremely hard abs --and I admit, I was taking longer than I needed to recover from my fall-- I looked up into his pale blue eyes and whispered "Paul?"

"The one and only. I see you've got another of your pretty outfits on," he commented. I looked down at my new black Club Monaco capris, and pink silk sweater set, and blushed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, while trying not to stare too hard at his perfectly formed mouth.

"Well, my grandfather just moved here, and he isn't very well. I'm keeping him company," he replied.

"Oh, right," I said, gulping. Was it just me or was it getting _way _to hot?

"Hows your 'best' friend?" Paul asked mockingly.

"Wha- Oh, yeh. Jesse. He's fine." I glared at him. "But how did you get-" I said, but Paul cut me off.

"Don't worry, I'll answer your questions some other time," he said, with a dismissing wave of his hand. "Now, aren't you going to introduce me?" I turned to see who he was talking about, and saw CeeCee with an extremely impatient look on her pale face.

"CeeCee Webb," she said, holding out a slender hand, which Paul shook. "You must be Paul Slater. Suze has told me about you" Paul looked at me with one eyebrow arched.

"And what has Suze told you, exactley?" he asked ceeCee, all the while looking at me with a smirk on his face.

"Just that she babysat your brother over the summer. But I thought you lived in Seattle?" she replied, with a sideways glance at me. I, of course, hadn't told her about what happened up in the Shadowland. I hadn't infact told anyone, except of course Father Dom. What I had told her, however, was that Paul was a teenage god. I thanked her silently for not telling Paul this. He already had a huge enough ego. I let my eyes drift to Pauls face, while he answered CeeCee's questions, and marvelled at how pefect it was. Wow, I thought. Suddenly, I was broken out of my daydream by an impatient CeeCee, and realised I had been staring at Paul. Shit. Now he definatley knows I think he's hot.

"What is with you Suze? Come on, we're gonna be late. Bye Paul." CeeCee said, somewhat huffily, and pulled me towards homeroom. I turned back to see Paul watching me, and he blew me a kiss. I gave him a small smile, and turned back to CeeCee. Now I was shivering. What is with me today? I thought.

"Wow! You were right, he _is_ hot! And he definately likes you Suze," CeeCee squealed, then started chattering about somthing Adam had done, while I was left wondering who -and what- on earth Paul was.

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Well, what did you think of this one? Should I carry on? Review, and tell me! By the way, I am not updating this time until I have got at least 5 reviews, which is one more than last time. So get writing peoples!!


	3. Chapter 2

Ok, I know its been a while, but I have been really busy. I've written more than just this chapter, but I have to go to bed soon, so I can only type this one up.

**SweetestReject: **Thanks for the suggestion, I've tried to make these chapters a bit longer. And yes, paul **_is_** so damned hot. Lol

**Ahhhh: **You yelled at me :( Scary person :( Also, strange name.

**Pens in potatoes: **That was a looonnnggg review. Well, for me. The chef thanks you for your compliments. (Thats me, teehee).

**Lyss: **Thanks for reading!

**n33dz tw0 3zcp3:** Why thankyou.

**kazeka: **I don't like it either when Suze is a bitch to Paul. Mainly why I'm writing the story! Lol.

**Teen-Princess: **I'm sorry I didn't update when I got my fifth review. :( My bad. Rock on Paulie fans!!

Anyyywayyyyy! Alevante my freakish friends!! You are not really freakish, that was my insane finger typing.

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Yet again I was in Father D's office. No wonder everyone thought I was some sort of bad-girl. They don't know my cosy chats with Father Dom are to do with ghosts. And so they shouldn't. I'm already seen as a bit of a freak, despite being Vice President. Although maybe that wouldn't be the case this year. We vote a new VP, and I wasn't planning on being it. My mind wandered to Paul for the twentieth time since that morning. Did I like him? I didn't know. I thought of how he had saved me -and Jesse- up in the Shadowland. How he looked so nice in those fitted t-shirts he wore. Maybe I did. Then again, maybe I didn't. I supposed I'd find out soon enough.

"So," Father D's voice broke into my Paulish thoughts. "How is Jesse?"

"Oh, he's fine. A bit shook up that his ex-fiance had him exorcised, but apart from that, yeh, he's peachy." I replied. I was starting to consider Jesse my best friend. Even over Gina! But then Gina hadn't saved my life on countless occasions. Oh, and Jesse was _always_ there for me, whereas back in New York Gina often had dates of a night, when I could do with someone to talk to. I was glad -and my mother was to- that my social life had picked up considerably since moving to Carmel.

"Can you give this to Jesse for me?" Father D. asked, handing me a gigantic, leatherbound book, named 'Critical Theory Since Plato'. "He mentioned borrowing it."

"Erm......sure......." I managed to say. I'd have to carry that home? I thought. But it must have weighed at least 10 pounds! I didn't say this to Father Dom though. i just smiled at him, when what I wanted to do was drop the book on his snowy head. That, however, would probably not get me into the Big Guy in the Sky's good books.

"Have you spoken to Paul yet, Susannah?" he said.

"Yeh....Why?" I asked, suspiciously. Did he know something? Like, how I seemed to feel for Paul maybe? Oh my god! Am I _that _obvious? I thought.

"Well, I was just thinking, maybe he could teach you a few things," he replied. Ahhh! What was he implying? "He seems much more experienced than you, Susannah." Phew. He was right though. About Paul knowing more than me I mean. He claimed he knew I could get up to the Shadowland without nearly dying, and I believed him. I mean, he clearly knew, else how did _he_ get there? Yum, Paul.................

"Susannah?" I realised I'd been away with the fairies. Or the Paulies. Whichever. Father D. sat calling my name.

"Oh, sorry. Erm, yeh. I'll talk to Paul. Now, if you don't mind, a girls gotta eat," I said, and carried the huge dusty book he'd given me to his office. After dumping it in my locker, I went to the lunch-room. I slipped into a seat between CeeCee and Adam, who were having a heated discussion about corndogs.

"Hey guys," I greeted them, whilst cracking open a diet pepsi.

"Hey Suze! Oh, I forgot to ask before, but who's Jesse?" CeeCee asked, innocently. I choked on my soda.

"Jesse? I don't know any Jesse's........." I lied.

"Aw, come on Suze, you know you're a crap liar!" Adam protested. "And how come Paul knows him and we don't?" At the mention of Pauls name, I automatically looked over to where he was sat, with the popular people in our class. Duh. He looked over and caught my eye. He held my gaze and smiled at me, showing off his pearly whites. I could feel myself going red, but I didn't break eye-contact. Kelly Prescott was trying to flirt with him, but he ignored her and continued staring at me with those hypnotic blue eyes. I finally managed to look away when CeeCee waved a hand infront of my face.

"Suze? God, have you got it bad for this Paul guy!" she exclaimed.

"Have not!" I replied, indignantly.

"Have too! And don't think you've got away with the Jesse thing either. He's your best friend?" She sounded hurt when she said that last bit.

"No, he's just a good friend, and he's not in school anymore" I reassured her. Adam was watching use with a look of confusement on his face. I was about to say something to him when..............

"Who's not in school anymore?" A shadow loomed over the table. I looked up to see David with a leaflet in his hand.

"Noone," I said quickly. "Whats that you've got?" I asked, diverting his attention from the previous conversation. He shoved the flyer under my nose. Taking it from him, I read it quickly, and gasped.

"David! What are you thinking?" I asked, shocked. The flyer was advertising a party. At _my_ house!

"It's not me! Brads handing them out!" David said, hastily. I stood up, nearly knocking him over.

"Excuse me a moment, but I have to go kick some ass." I strode over to Brad. He didn't see me coming, and when I stopped infront of him, a look of panic crossed his face as he recognised the paper I was holding. "Do you really think Mom and Andy will allow you to have a party which mainly consists of many drunken orgys?" I asked, in a calm voice.

"Yeah, well, seeing as they won't be there.." his voice was smug. "And you better not tell them either, else you'll be sorry," I looked at him like he was crazy. Well, he was.

"I'll be sorry? You don't have anything on me to blackmail me with!" I cried.

"Oh, but I do. Cause if you tell, I'll tell them about this Jesse guy you've been sneaking into your room every night."

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Like it? I know some parts were from the book, but its based along that plot-line, so I have had to take some lines. Well, you know what to do! R&R!! next chapter up tomorrow probably!! 


	4. Chapter 3

Ok, firstly, thankyou to all my reviewers on that last chapter.

Secondly, I am SOOOOOOO sorry!! I know I said I would have it the next day, _but _I lost my story, and _all_ my notes and even all the plans for my other fanfics which I will write!!! You see I don't write my storys on the pc, I write them up on paper first. I could _not_ think of what I had written, and as I was pretty pleased with chapter 3, I didnt want to rewrite it. So I kept on looking. Anyway, I found everything a few days back under my desk. So I edited it all and I am ready to post this! Yey!! Here we go!

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Ok. I don't know why I punched him. And yeh, it _was_ pretty stupid, seeing as I now had a detention on my first day back. I mean, it isn't as if Jesse's my boyfriend,but still, I really doubt my mother would _ever_ let me have a guy over 20 years old (nevermind 150) in my room, whether he was a boyfriend or not.

"Yeah," Brad had said at lunch, when I'd stood infront of him, unable to speak. However, I wasn't, as he thought I was, speechless because he'd caught me sneaking my 'boyfriend' in at night. I was speechless because Brad -thick as a plank Dopey- could hear Jesse! David was _way_ smarter than him, and he couldn't hear ghosts! I'd definately have to check this one with Father D. I finally managed to squeeze out a sentence.

"What about Jake? He's not gonna let you have a bunch of your mates over so you can all get wasted!" I exclaimed.

"Are you joking?" he asked, looking at me as though I was insane. "Jakes getting me the beer!"

"_Jake?_ Jake is getting _you_ beer? No way. no freaking way would he-" Then I realised. "What are you paying him?"

"A hundred dollars, _and_ I'm doing his chores for a week," Brad replied, smugly. Woah. A hundred dollars and Jake nearly had enough for the Camaro he wanted. No wonder he was willing to supply Brads booze.

I finally snapped when Brad said:

"And David won't tell either, because if he does, I'm gonna kick his snivelling little ass from here to Australia."

And so, I pulled back my fist and pummelled Brad in the stomach.

Before I could really lay into him though, Mr Gillarte, the coach, pulled me away from him and pushed me in the direction of Father Dom's office. And so here I was, in the principals office for the second time that day.

"Well, what can I say? Some people can sense things much better than others," Father D. had said when I'd finished giving my account of the events leading up to punching my step-brother.

"Brad though?" I asked, shocked. I mean, the only other member of the family who could sense Jesse's presence was Max, and he's a _dog,_ for Gods sake. Animals _can_ sense these things! And yeah, so Brad could be mistaken for animal, he wasn't exactley the sharpest pencil in the box was he?

After another lecture on how I should conduct myself from Father D, I finally got away. The rest of the day basically consisted of me not doing any work at all, and musing over how best to put the question I was burning to ask Paul. Speaking of burning, and Paul, how come _every_ time I caught Paul looking at me I felt like I was gonna burn up from the heat? I think I managed to start _sweating_ at one point! I don't do sweating! sweating is just so not me! I was definately going to have to look into this.

I dutifully went to my detention, where Jesse stopped by when the teacher wasn't in the room to tell me about a stirring he had felt. Damn him and his feelings. Whenever he felt a 'stirring' I ended up having a near-death experience!! I told him I'd deal with it, and he left to go rattle some chains, or whatever else it is he does when he's alone. I didn't remember about the huge book from Father D. until after he'd left. Now I was going to have to lug it up a hill. Boohoo.

After the teacher on duty finally let me go, I began the long trek home. However, as I was reaching the school gates, guess who showed up? Thats right. Paul. In a silver BMW convertible too. Nice. Maybe I could ask him a few things. Namely about that little hero act he pulled up in the Shadowland.

"Hey," he said casually, leaning out of his car. "Want I ride?"

"I most definatley do," I said, and without a seconds thought, a hopped in. This book Father Dom had given me was getting mighty heavy.

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Ok, from now on, I promise to not make any sucky promises about how fast I wil update. They just don't work out. Review peoples!! 


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